Yvonne wrote:It is evident on the blog who are involved in real estate, you are just protecting your deals and do not want to see changes. You do not want fairness, just continue with your deals. There is a special place for you in the afterlife.

Yvonne wrote:I just heard from 3 former neighbors in the Van Vorst neighborhood. New taxes, $31,000, $35,000, and $41,000.

If they got whacked with a big increase in taxes, then that means they spent years (if not decades) paying lower taxes... and forcing others to pay more than their fair share.

Request for sympathy: DENIED.

No, they got whacked because tax abated properties are not ratables. By comparison, those tax abated properties are paying very little and receive the same services as those being whacked.

Tax abated properties were paying way more than your former neighbors were for decades. A two-bedroom condo on a PILOT paid more than your typical VVP brownstone that was worth upwards of 1.5M. I know you tell this lie so often now that it's second nature and you can't help yourself, but do try. In your religion, don't liars burn in hell?

bodhipooh wrote:Like I said earlier, it is incredibly rich to see so many self-avowed liberals become overnight fiscal conservatives demanding more out of less, and crying unfair taxation.

Reminds of a cocktail party I went to waaay back in the 90s, when an acquaintance of mine introduced me to a Republican couple who were prominent at the time. Everything was free market this and free market that with these people, until someone pointed out that they were living in a pretty sweet rent-controlled three-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. Then it was all "Hands off our rent-controlled apartment! We're entitled to this apartment!"

I see what you did there. So you're comparing one anecdotal couple to an entire section of a large, heavily liberal democrat city? Not really seeing it.

Wow, talk about an overreach in logic. I'm doing no such thing. Just saying his observation reminded me of this one incident. That and maybe the point that a person's principles - no matter what side of the political spectrum they fall on - aren't really tested until it actually costs them something.

bodhipooh wrote:Like I said earlier, it is incredibly rich to see so many self-avowed liberals become overnight fiscal conservatives demanding more out of less, and crying unfair taxation.

Reminds of a cocktail party I went to waaay back in the 90s, when an acquaintance of mine introduced me to a Republican couple who were prominent at the time. Everything was free market this and free market that with these people, until someone pointed out that they were living in a pretty sweet rent-controlled three-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side. Then it was all "Hands off our rent-controlled apartment! We're entitled to this apartment!"

TheBigGuy wrote:On Grand, there are signals that give cars the right of way to turn on to Grove / Marin first. Then the pedestrian cross sign lights up. The drivers will not yield or they come flying up Grand to make the light, surprised to see people in the crosswalk when they want to rush through the turn. Walking east or west, people who are aware, continue to glance back over their shoulders crossing those intersections.

Yup, it's especially bad with east-bound cars on Grand making that left turn onto Grove. The pedestrians crossing Grove in front of Taqueria are sitting ducks. I also like to add that if you're a driver, NEVER let the cars behind you bully you into making a right turn because you're lawfully yielding to pedestrians or observing the No Turn on Red sign. Just the other day, I saw a car, south-bound on Marin, with its right-turn signal on, waiting patiently at the red light at Grand (there's a sign clearly stating No Right Turn 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Mon-Fri). The driver was cowed into making an illegal right turn onto Grand because of the angry honking behind him. And if you're one of those honkers, STOP THAT!!

KMont484 wrote:Is this true? I know buildings like the Columbus Towers are not eligible for permits bc those buildings are not zoned (plus they do offer garage parking for a very high fee. But I believe 18 Park and 225 Grand residents CAN get street parking permits but also have parking garages offered.

You can only get a street permit if you get a letter from the landlord stating that the garage is already full and there are no parking spaces available for rent in these buildings.

dmark526 wrote:While you raise some good points, you still have to realize that a 10 unit building pulling in $5000 per month in maintenance is still a lot of money even with having a management company and holding a healthy reserve. In the buildings I've managed, We hired management companies and found that they basically did nothing other than pay the bills for $300 per month.

The reserve account at $200.00 per month always allowed the bulilding to make capital improvements (new roof, new brickace on front exterior) without special assessments.

60K per year on a 10 unit building is high for the level of ammenities.

We don't know that it's $5000k/month for the entire building. It could be the unit mentioned by the OP has the largest percentage of the voting rights in the HOA and therefore the highest monthly maintenance, so the total could be well below that. We also don't know anything about the operating budget, special assessments, etc. either. He did say water and heat were included. While water shouldn't be a major strain on the budget, heat can be. I know that when it's included in maintenance (or rent) rather than separately billed based on usage, people tend to be rather wasteful. All I'm saying is based on my knowledge of the range of fees for a condo in JC, $500-ish for a 3-bdrm isn't unreasonable, even without amenities and especially if its a historic building where something is ALWAYS breaking. Anyway, at $200 a month and fully funded capital improvements, I know I'd hire you to manage my building!

dmark526 wrote:I am well aware of what it takes to manage a small association. I have managed two different small associations. We always ran with a reserve of $6000 minimum. It was always more than enough (200 per month) to pay all of the bills and add to the reserve account. It all depends on what someone is looking for. The OP stated that there where no additional ammenities for the money. I simply stated that $500.00 per month with no ammenities was a little high.

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I managed the HOA in my first JC condo as well. My maintenance for a 2-bdrdm was $250 in a small building, and this was 15 years ago. That amount allowed us to run a small reserve of about $5,000 - easily wiped out by a major emergency, which always seemed to happen every couple of years. If the building mentioned by the OP has a management company overseeing things and at least a part-time super/handyman to haul garbage, clean the common areas and clear snow, then the maintenance sounds fairly reasonable. For a small building that actually is an amenity (and probably a sensible route to go) - unless you have one or two owners willing to take on what essentially amounts to a second, unpaid job taking care of the building. It's been my experience living in small, self-managed buildings that as much as all the owners agree to share chores/responsibilities the reality is one or two people end up doing all the work. In my first building, we looked into hiring a management company and part-time handyman for the tasks I mentioned - that easily would've added $100/month to everyone's maintenance.

dmark526 wrote:That sounds a little high to me for the size of the building. I lived in a 7 unit and the maintenance was $200 per month. I hardly think you would have a heating/hot water bill of $3600 per year.

Maybe that figure includes a special assessment for a capital improvement. I would want to see what their budget looked like before going into contract.

And $200 sounds ridiculously low - you wouldn't have much after paying insurance for the building. Let me guess, you have to corral the all the owners to cough up money every time you have a major repair bill such as a roof leak or a plumbing issue, right? A financially sound building would calculate maintenance fees to take into account major replacement projects - such as the hallway carpeting or the roof - on a set schedule every X number of years. The fees should also allow the HOA to build enough of a reserve fund to handle emergencies without having to hit up the owners. It avoids the headache of one or two owners who are unwilling or unable to suddenly come up extra money for these issues.

For a 3-bdrm, that sounds generally right - probably on the low end of the range. I don't think neighborhoods matter that much in the calculation of monthly maintenance fees. A building that's downtown will have the same overhead as one in JSQ. The biggest expense for the building is likely the master insurance policy, followed by the heat/hot water if it's common expense rather than billed separately to each unit owner. A 10-unit building is a small one, so it's not going to get the same economies of scale as, say, a 200-unit building that would make having a gym or hiring a doorman feasible.

I usually alternate between Razza and Roman Nose for my Friday night pizza & Netflix habit. I should have known to go straight to Roman Nose when I got off the PATH tonight. There was a horde of desperate foodies who looked like they just braved a Hudson River crossing waiting to be seated outside Razza. Anyway, Razza told me they have suspended takeout and Uber Eats orders for the time being because business has gone through the roof. So, yeah, this NYT thing is great for them, bad for the rest of us.

THIS is exactly why I'm so glad I did a credit freeze with all three credit reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and Transunion) over 10 years ago. Setting up the freeze initially requires a bit of work - you have to send certified letters requesting it - but once it's in place, it's quite a bit of peace of mind. You can unfreeze your credit temporarily when you have to refinance a mortgage or buy a car. Imho, credit-monitoring services are half assed and you're paying a monthly or annual fee for someone to close the barn doors after the horse has bolted. Useful info here on freezing your credit: http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_ ... /finance/creditfreeze.htm

The good folk of Jersey City are over the heavy-handed abuse of these regulations. And they need to be on the look out - last I heard the City was trying to turn Astor Place into another Historic District.

All too often, historic districting is a blunt weapon of gentrification - a way to get rid of lower-income residents in a neighborhood (who are typically the elderly on fixed incomes or minorities) because they can't afford to comply. Historic districts = Stuff White People Like. This is an interesting article about the controversy over the historic districting attempt in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in L.A. http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ad ... -park-20150719-story.html

It's not the moths that will eat your clothing, but their larvae. They'll go after wool, cashmere and silk. They don't like strong smells, so you can deter them my storing bars of deodorant soap (like Irish Spring) in your drawers. I also keep my sweaters in ziplock bags.

Bill463 wrote:Went yesterday - wonderful! I do feel bad for the small fish store on Jersey. When the mayor comes to cut your ribbon on your new wonderful small business he never mentions this! So many ribbon cuttings on shop small but how many last here?

I don't feel bad for them. Different customer bases. Something tells me most of the customers of the "small fish store on Jersey" woudn't be caught dead buying their fish in a supermarket, let alone an Asian one. I can't picture them standing in line sandwiched between loud Chinese grandmothers buying huge bags of fish heads - or even knowing what to do with a bag of fish heads.

The bakery looks fairly decent in terms of selection: the typical breads, pastries and cakes that you would find in any Asian bakery. I did pick up a mocha swiss roll (the swiss rolls were one of their grand opening specials) and it was good. The line at the bakery was too long over the weekend, or I would have gotten a little mango mousse pastry from the case. I am curious to see how it stacks up to Fay Da in Chinatown. To me, Fay Da is the gold standard of Chinese bakeries.

Bill463 wrote:Got to get over there to check it out! I'm excited at what people are saying about the fish dept. I'm sure that small business on Jersey ( fish ) will be impacted. What ever happened to the mayor saying no chains downtown and all that silliness?

The ordinance specifically excludes grocery stores, but even if it didn't, 99 Ranch wouldn't fall under the definition of a chain store because it has only one other location on the East Coast. Also I'm pretty sure Old Colony falls right outside "downtown" as defined by that particular ordinance. The fish department is amazing. I was there over the weekend - incredible selection, everything fresh and very reasonably priced. That fish stand on Jersey Ave will probably be OK, because JC now has a critical mass of people who think paying much more for a limited selection of artisanal fish sold by hipsters is how you become a discerning seafood consumer.

Vaccinate your kid and stop the nonsense, and please stop buying into the fraud that is the anti-vaccine movement. It is 100% based on false science and they have done incredible damage to society at large.

Exactly. The parents today who freak out over vaccines were themselves vaccinated as kids and never got to see the ravages of horrible diseases like measles and polio. My parents grew up in 1940s Asia, when most kids weren't vaccinated. They remember cousins and playmates being struck by such diseases and think parents today are complete idiots for choosing exposure to terrible - and sometimes deadly - diseases. Not only are measles highly contagious, but by selfishly choosing not to vaccinate your kids, you're putting those too young to be vaccinated and those with weakened immune systems at risk. Funny how many of the same liberals who blast conservatives for ignoring climate science are themselves just as guilty for denying vaccine and public health science.

MDM wrote:Years back I had a tenant who was a real estate agent. She pulled a mass of comps from the MLS guide on my behalf, which I used in my appeal.

Got any friends with access to MLS?

When I appealed back around 2008, I just walked into one of the local real-estate agent offices and asked if anyone could help me. Granted, business was considerably slower for realtors in 2008, so they were happy to help me out. I offered to pay for their time, but they declined payment and asked me to remember them the next time I wanted to buy or sell a home (which I did).

GrovePath wrote:Malls are an out of date idea - but Newport Mall should close the food court and the movies - and mimic upscale malls like Shorthills.

Speak for yourself. Before they renovated the movie theater, I used to schlep into Manhattan to see movies. Now, it's nicer than most theaters in the city. The food court is also much improved and I'm not above getting fast food every so often.

anonymess wrote:I am not a lawyer. However, I think I can safely answer the question based on my experience on a board for a number of years. Something somewhat similar happened.

I think the management company did you a service by changing the fees to adhere to the bylaws. The fee change by the owners was improper. Perhaps the management company should have given notice and explanation, but I doubt they did anything legally wrong. It is the Board/owners that screwed up by changing the fee structure without changing the bylaws. That is a major big deal. It is irrelevant that the change was voted on and agreed. Changing bylaws is not a simple matter. What about a new owner that moves in? He/she might be basing part of the purchase decision on what he/she believes the fees are as stated in the bylaws.

In any event, I would let it go since you all agreed to abide by the management company's decision anyway. In my opinion, the management company did a smart thing.

+1000. The bylaws are the legal, governing document for the building. The management company has to act according to the bylaws, otherwise it would be opening itself up to liability and negligence claims. If you're going to change the fee structure for maintenance, you can't simply discuss and vote. (Did you even have minutes of that discussion?) You have to properly amend the bylaws.

Agree with all the enthusiastic reviews. I've eaten there twice in one week. The lamb chops were superb and perfectly done and seasoned, and the moussaka is indeed fantastic. They don't have a big menu, but what they do, they do very well. The staff is is so warm and welcoming, too.

Anyone else notice how an already bad intersection is made even worse by the idiots who park/stand on Marin right outside KK now, with their hazard lights flashing? One guy was even parked into the crosswalk. I was driving south on Marin and had just cleared Columbus when I had to slam on my brakes to avoid being sideswiped by some asshat who abruptly pulled out without checking for traffic. It goes without saying that the cops directing traffic right at that intersection appear to be oblivious or indifferent to the Krispy Kreme congestion.

135jc wrote:Quite honestly this seems to be opening in a timely manner. Many businesses in the past took much longer to get through all the red tape. The most famous being atomic wings. Looks like Fulop has streamlined some things.